Knight of the Final Day
by Robert Siegfried
Summary: As the end of the world approaches, a boy out of time reunites a lost couple. Short story based on the end of the Kafei/Anju sidequest of Majora's mask, in my opinion the most emotional moment in the entire Zelda series. Enjoy


Knight of the Final Day

By Robert Siegfried

**Another Short Story I did because I was bored. I got inspired by a picture I found on the internet and I got a ridiculous amount of nostalagia from it and randomly started crying which was strange because as a member of the male population I do not cry for no good reason. But here is the photo.**

**(Nevermind, Fanfiction wouldn't let me post the link)**

**I apologize in advance for any inaccuracies, I have not played this game in maybe four years and am going entirely on memory. I will be replaying it at least three or four times before I do the next part of my main fic "The Legacy of Hyrule" which will be based on it.**

It could have been any other night since the dawn of time. Billions of stars shone in an endless sea of blackness, illuminating the surface of a place that could by contrast be called lonely. Silver starlight poured down from the heavens and cascaded over the greens and earthen browns of Termina.

Everything beneath the sky was coated in hoary beams of ancient light, from the green fields to the white Snowhead's peak, through endless desert sands and across the vast sea the light pervaded all, as it had done for uncounted generations. But one place stood black against the silver, a blight against the light.

Harsh red torches glowed in the streets of Clock Town, a circular city formed around a great stone tower adorned by a massive clock which counted even now towards unspeakable doom. For longer than the tales of men could count, the passage of time itself had been celebrated here every year upon a day that had no name but "Carnival's eve", because that name had been enough.

Now it was different. The normally crowded streets were abandoned save for a few who still held hope even as they stood in doom's shadow. Forgotten letters from loved ones drifted in a light breeze among the common garbage, the ones who normally would clear such things away were long gone, and even if they had stayed it was not for the purpose of doing their job.

Many things littered the streets; suitcases had been dropped in panic or more often than not, in battle. A mad struggle for survival had occurred here as the city had been completely evacuated. Clothes spilled from dropped luggage like the entrails of a gutted corpse and once valued possessions lay smashed and forgotten on the flagstones.

A boy walked among the chaos, and he was unfazed by it. He had seen this evil before, every three days; endlessly as far back as he could count days. Before then it had been a different world and a different evil, but all darkness wore the same black mask of chaos.

His name was Link, and though he had been born thirteen years before, time did not flow for him as it did for others; he had been twenty once and in love. He had overthrown Dark Lords without acknowledging the pain of mortals and been put on his knees by the ungodly pain of a friend's death. In the end that was the real reason he was even here.

He was searching for a beloved and invaluable friend.

He passed through the empty streets and the occasional tortured soul of one who had no reason to flee, but there was one place he needed to be that night, one final thing he needed to do before midnight. Termina was in danger but its peril could wait, he had a smaller world to save, a much more personal world that too had been destroyed and now he held the power to mend. A world the size of two people and a room.

_Stock Pot Inn_

_Please come inn_

Link smiled grimly at the joke he had seen too many times to count and walked through the door, using a key he had stolen from a poor Goron many more times than he cared to number. The inside of the inn was quiet save for a single noise, the faint sobs of a woman crying. Link knew it was Anju, the bride of a man who had disappeared, unbeknownst to her cursed by the same thing that was about to destroy the world.

Link took care to be quiet as he swiftly crossed the lobby and began up the stairs at the back. He reached the top and found someone who appeared to be a young boy only a little bit older than himself standing outside the door, listening.

"I couldn't get the mask back Link… I just couldn't… I'll never be able to face her like this." Kafei sobbed. Link didn't say anything, but rather reached down to his side and pulled out a silvery ovular mask from his pouch, handing it to Kafei. The boy took it and turned it over in his hands, making sure it was the mask he knew it was.

"How did you get this?" Kafei asked.

"It doesn't matter how it came back to you… all that matters is that you have it now. Go" Link replied. Kafei nodded and turned to face the door and slowly turned the knob and opened it. Anju sat on her knees in the center of the floor with her head in her hands sobbing.

"I'm here, like I promised." Kafei said. Anju stopped and slowly turned her head to see him, and while he was not the same visually as she remembered him there was no doubt in her mind that he was the same man as she had loved. Kafei took a few tentative steps forward before running across the empty space and flinging himself into her arms. The two embraced and didn't speak at all, just enjoyed feeling the warmth of each other in a world that had become so cold.

"I just wish we had more time… Already morning is coming." Kafei stated.

"I don't know what morning will bring, but when it comes… we will be together." Anju said. She remembered seeing someone in the doorway behind him and looked up to thank him, but nobody was there. The mysterious man, or had it been a boy, had gone….

… Link stood in the street outside of the stock pot inn, looking up at the sky in pure rage. His sword was clenched tightly in his left hand and The Ocarina of Time in his right. He wasn't going to go backwards in time any more, he was going to make sure that this moment could never be erased from history like so many moments he had made.

"You want to fight me? I'm on my way Skull Kid. I'm coming for you!" Link shouted in rage. A small figure floating above the top of the clock tower turned and Link knew that the Skull Kid had heard him. He charged in the direction of the tower praying to the goddesses that he would make it in time. He was going to kill the one who had done this to the world. As he ran up towards the tower and then up the steps towards the top as he reached it, a voice came into his mind, a voice that would haunt and yet motivate him for the rest of his short life.

_Forgive… your… Friend_


End file.
